Translation: On Dalit Movement by K. Balagopal

Translation:

It is unsure how much the Dalit movement has taught the communists, but it was a significant loss for the Dalit movement to have borrowed the idea from communists that political mobilisation can be a solution for all the problems. Dalit leaders attribute this idea to Ambedkar, but even though he was of the opinion that Dalits should win political power, it was not central to his ideas. Ambedkar, Periyar, Phule- All three leaders gave more importance to bringing social changes over political changes. Instead of working towards this idea, the Dalit movement invested its energies in strategizing and mobilising to attain political power. Because of this, the Dalit movement failed to launch new forms of protest.

Today is the death anniversary of K Balagoapl (10 June 1952 – 8 October 2009)